Modern Vespa

Curious……

6k on the rear, 12 k on the front.
City Grip 2's.

Maybe a hair less on the original CG.

My tires usually last 5000-20000 km. Front usually wears faster on low power bikes.
It is tire, bike and riding style dependent. Plus, many replace tires when half worn. The grip starts to fall as the tire wears and many just like the road feel of new tire.
And tires should be replaced within 10 years independent of mileage.

Diablos
Rear 5000-6000 km
Front 6000-8000 km

My rears last exactly as long as my oil.
Fronts much longer.

Basically how long is a piece of string, How many variables are in the question, It all depends on Tire quality, correct tire pressure, different terrain, rider weight, riding ability, braking, city or highway/motorway riding to mention a few.
This is why motor sports have people like strategist's they all start on nearly the same tire soft, medium or hard, but some drivers have to pit earlier than others due to the way they have driven and track type.

A bottom of the barrel tire from China would have no comparison against Pirelli, Avon, Michelin or Continental

Do you change your oil when you get a puncture?

I ride on majestic pristine NZ roads lovingly kept clear of puncture causing debris by our dedicated team of highly skilled road workers.

I'm betting that you trained them

There is a crack squad trained to attack the natural enemy of every scooterist.

I remember that episode.

I did get attacked by a bird while riding the other day but i lived to tell the tale. Was a very determined attack by a magpie while riding in a 40kph zone. A good reason to wear a helmet

One of the Fortnine videos mentioned how manufacturers often put big name brand tyres on, but with less tread than that tyre would normally have, in order to keep costs down.

Does anyone know if this is the case with Piaggio / Vespa? As it would skew these figures somewhat.

[quote="JakeM"]
One of the Fortnine videos mentioned how manufacturers often put big name brand tyres on, but with less tread than that tyre would normally have, in order to keep costs down.


Wow if true that is mega stingy, I bet the tyre manufacturers wouldn't be impressed either.

Have a look at this:

I forgot to measure my tread when my tyres were new.

I have gotten 6,000 to 9,000 miles out of rear tires on my Vespa GTs.

The 9,000 was a Michelin City Grip.

6,000 to 7,000 using the old Michelin Power Pure tires.

Fronts go about twice as far and get changed after they start cupping, I never wore one out.

Most riding is in Florida on smooth, flat straight roads.

I have been using Pirelli Angels on the scooters recently but haven't worn one out yet.

No more than a few thousand miles on them yet.

Bill

Yes, it is mega stingy.

The tire manufacturers are the ones supplying the half baked tires and are happy to do so because the majority of vehicle owners don't know or care much about tires, and say, "just put the same ones on" by a huge percentage on the car & truck side. I never saw stats on this on the powersports side when I was in the tire industry though.

Another thing they do is put the cheapest, off -market tire from a name brand manufacturer on.

So you can look at a Royal Enfield 650 and say, wow, it comes with Pirelli, sooooo premium!

But when you look closely you'll see it comes with a model of Pirelli tire that you've actually never heard of, usually sold only in countries where the average yearly income is less than what you made as a summer student over a decade ago...

And that's what you realize that beyond mega stingy, there is a level called super stingy. Welcome to Royal Enfield ownership lol.

Love it, brilliant

Tires have to be made to a very strict standard, even when producing for a vehicle manufacturer.
NOW READ THE BORING BIT
In fact, there are many standards that tire manufacturers must follow.
For example, in the UK and Europe, tires need to meet specific requirements to be placed on the market, as outlined in Regulation (EC) No 661/2009 on the general safety of motor vehicles.
This legislation refers to the same testing methods for the same parameters on the tire label and sets the minimal requirements for efficiency, safety and health protection.
The European Tyre and Rim Technical Organization (ETRTO) and the Tire and Rim Association (TRA) are two organizations that influence national tire standards.
The objectives of the ETRTO include aligning national tire and rim standards in Europe.
The Tire and Rim Association, formerly known as The Tire and Rim Association of America, Inc., is an American trade organization which standardizes technical standards.
In addition, there are also national technical standards regulations such as DOT code in the US.
The DOT code is an alphanumeric character sequence molded into the sidewall of the tire and allows the identification of the tire and its age.
The code is mandated by the U.S. Department of Transportation but is used worldwide.
So dont think you are being ripped off.😉👍

I've been keeping track. I get about 3000-3500 miles on a rear City Grip 2, and about twice as much on a front, and this has been fairly consistent for a dozen tires and across multiple bikes.

But are manufacturers still allowed to have special tyres produced with less tread?

Have a look at the Fortnine video. It seems that they produce a tyre which still meets minimum usage specs, but sometimes it's a different specification.

A Michelin City Grip 2 bought from the shop might have twice the tread and be a sticker rubber, whereas a Michelin City Grip 2 (a) could be made in a cheaper country with a harder rubber and half the tread.

The example in the video is Royal Enfield. I'm not sure if this is the case with the standard Vespa tyres?

So let's cut all of that down to this:

tires are regulated governments and international associations which say tires must meet a minimum criteria.

Let's cut it down further:

governments say tires must meet a minimum criteria.

Let's cut it down further:

government minimum

Let's cut it down further:

MINIMUM.


Why are we pretending like the minimum is what we should aspire to? Ask people on EI, welfare, disability, etc. how well "government minimum" is working for them. That's not a political statement or in any way meant to poke fun, just to make you think about how the government views "minimums" with regards to the well-being of its people, make of it whatever you will based on wherever in the world you live.

I don't know about you, but if I'm looking at getting some fancy new Michelin, Metzeler, or Pirelli tires, to potentially save my life on two wheels, and the manufacturer's selling point is: "Hey guy, don't worry, these are made to the government minimum!" I'm not fucking buying those things. I'm not touching them. I'm not giving you a dollar for those things.

I want Michelin/Metzeler/Pirelli/whoever to say "These are our BEST tires for this particular application." Ok sir, you have built your reputation, I trust you, I will take them, because I do not want government minimum.

I don't like getting into debates but what I will say is I worked for DUNLOP/CONTINENTAL for 13 years, The practice you have brought up did not happen, and quality control was too strict😉👍,

Good to know Dunlop haven't gone down this road. As shown in the Fortnine video, Pirelli have done so with the Royal Enfields - but I'm not sure if they've done this with other bikes as well. Also curious as to whether other tyre manufacturers do this.

I count years over miles, seems like a better deal 😂

That's pretty low.
Like the ink cartridges that come with a new printer

I believe you but I also believe Fortnine is forthright

I use Michelin CG2 & I typically get 7-8k miles out of my rear tires. About 12-14k out of the front.

There are a lot of factors at play here. Riding style, riding environment and road conditions, rider weight and total load weight.

I had Pirelli Angels on my GTS a few years ago and they wore about 25% faster because they were a softer compound.

Do you have a link to the Fortnine video?

Former Goodyear and Dunlop employee here too Great example. It was linked a few posts up
https://modernvespa.com/forum/post2645832#2645832

Dunlop in Toronto, Canada ?

Yup, Etobicoke/Toronto. Have we met?

🤣I wish, from what I've seen of Toronto on TV (this was some years ago, have the internet now) its a great place to live, at the time I worked at Dunlop I used to play Ice Hockey very small non professional UK league on the east coast of England but used to follow the big Canadian and other teams on TV when shown, But the amount of years spent at Dunlop I knew they had factories abroad but didn't know they produced in Toronto It was never mentioned by other staff or management that's why I was surprised when you said, I suppose we all just get wrapped up in our own cocoons.😉👍

They used to do manufacturing on the same lot my office was on a long time ago for Goodyear, not sure about Dunlop. I worked for corporate in Canada's head office. Now the nearest plant is Napanee Ontario about 2.5 hours away. No idea if they make Dunlop tires there or just Goodyears. I was in marketing so we did our own thing, worked with sales, etc. Got to bring the Blimp to Canada for the first time in 20+ years though, so that was pretty cool.

I drive on small, winding roads, most often between 50 and 80 km/h; The rear tires last almost 10,000 km and almost double that for the front. Only City Grip 2.